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For us, poor mortals, matters are not‘ so ideally simple, for as the poet says, i h u - t im Raume stossen sich die Sachen.” Fortunately, however, there IS no great difficulty in separating nitrogen from the air, either I)\ physical means, according t o Linde’s procpss. or chemically, by removing the oxygen with glowing copper, burning hydrogen, or the like. A r d for the preparation of hydrogen in recent times a great deal of useful work has been done too, owing t o the extensive growth of its field of application. I n certain works it is a t disposal in large quantities as a by-product of the electrolysis of common salt. Besides this i t can be produced, for example, by passing steam over red-hot iron, or from water-gas, for instance, by separating its constituents hydrogen and carbon monoxid by cooling t o a very iow temperature. All the methods of preparation which come into consideration we have of course minutely examined; owing to the comparatively trifling differences in the cost of production various methods can be employed. At all events, both elements, nitrogen and hydrogen, are a t the disposal of the new:industry to any extent and sufficiently cheap. CHILI SALTPETER. Total Price2 value. Chilian per ton. Increase. mill. M. Year. export.’ .Marks. 216.6 1901-11 995,400 tons 1900 162.2 1,454,000 t h a t is an annual ... 172.8 1,274,000 1901 .. average of 99,500 176.2 1,379,200 1902 tons containing ... 178.4 1903 1,457,600 15.5 per cent., i. e . , ... 196.2 1,479,100 1904 about 15,400 tons 338.2 204.8 1905 1,652,200 nitrogen, valued a t ... 215.0 1,731,800 1906 19 million marks. ... 214.4 1,653,600 1907 ... 193.3 2,052,400 1908 393.7 First six months 1912 184.5 2,133,900 1909 ... 150,000 tons valued 177.6 1910 2,334,000 a t about 29 million marks as against Jan.-June ... corresponding per1911 (1,299,0003) .. 467.2 iod 1911. 1911 2,449,000 190.7 1912 (1,449,0003) 1 According t o the figures of the Association Salitrera. 2 Annual average Hamburg quotations. a Semi-annual deliveries in Europe.
.
AMMONIUM SULFATE.
Year. 1902 1908 1909 1910
Total World Price production. per ton. value. Tons. Marks. mill. M. 543,000 852,000 978,000 1,111,800
241’ 237 200 248.5 about 1911 1,181,000 278 1 Quotations fob. Hull.
131 202 225 276 328
Increase.
1908-11 329,000 tons, L e . , an annual average of 110,000 tons, containing 20.5 per cent., Le., about 22,500 tons nitrogen, valued a t about 30.6 million marks.
As the production of these elements is not confined to the presence of cheap water power, all those countries where the manufacture of calcium nitrate, owing t o the want of such power, is not practicable, as for instance in Germany, are now in a position to profit by the new industry. As I remarked a t the outset, there is every reason to assume t h a t this industry will find a fruitful field of employment in America, where the demand for nitrogen-manures will soon be greater than hitherto. I t can also be regarded as certain that the develop-
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ment of this new industry will not take place a t the cost of other branches of industry and commerce. Bear in mind for a moment the present annual requirements for nitrogen manures and their continued growth. According to the tables before you these figures reached the remarkable total of 467.2 326, i. e . , 793.2 million marks (about 190 million dollars) in 1911,and each year sees an increase. I n the last few years the increased demand for ammonium sulfate amounted to about I O per cent. The increase of production from 1910 to 1911 amounted to 69,000 tons, and from 1908 to 191I on the average as much as I 10,000 tons, or I I O million kg. valued a t about 30.6 million marks (7.3 million dollars). Similarly the nitrogen requirements of the world for manure purposes in the form of saltpeter is growing. Chili exported in 1908 about 2 , 0 5 2 , 4 0 0 tons of saltpeter, and already in 1911 the figure was about 2,449,400tons, t h a t is an annual increase of nearly 150,000 tons valued a t approximately 29 million marks (7 million dollars). Indeed the European deliveries, according to the latest reports, from January to the end of June, 1912,reached as much as 1,449,000tons, a demand which Chili was hardly able to meet.1 The average annual increase from 1901 to 1911 amounted to 99,500 tons. That is t o say, taking saltpeter and ammonium sulfate together and reckoning only the average increases, calculated on nitrogen, we have an annual increase in production of about 38,000 tons nitrogen, corresponding to nearly 185,000 tons of ammonium sulfate. I t can thus be seen what enormous quantities of synthetic ammonium sulfate must be produced to affect the total production by as much as one year. The saying so often applicable, that “Das Bessere ist der Feind des Guten,” will thus probably have no meaning in this field. A peaceful development of the various new industries for the combination of the nitrogen of the air side by side is to be expected, and without encroaching a t all on the previous production of nitrogenous manures, a favorable horoscope may be cast for a fortunate career for the new industry.
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PROGRESS I N INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY.‘ By RUDOLPH MESSEL.
At a time when the latest discovery of interest may be instantly flashed to the remotest part of the world by wireless telegraphy, and the technical press discusses every possible problem -as it arises, a presidential address seems to me to be almost a n anachronism. I n very few cases is it possible to communicate anything not already known. Whatever issue a speaker may desire to consider is sure to have been dealt with till i t is almost threadbare, and I fear t h a t the topics I venture to bring before you must be enrolled in the latter category. I propose to deal with some aspects of the remark1 During the first six months of 1912 the production in Chili was roughly 10,000 tons less than in the corresponding period of 1911, and at the same time stocks in sight in t h a t country receded by round 50,000 tons. 2 Address delivered by the President of the Society of Chemical Industry a t the Chemists’ Club, hTew York, September 3, 1912.
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able progress made within my recollection. The ceaseless energy with which industry has availed itself of the achievements of pure science has made possible the manufacture, on a large scale, of products, either unknown but a few years ago, or seen as specimens in scientific collections, or produced only by nature. That I shall refer t o relatively very few of these triumphs of chemical research and invention and mainly to inorganic products must be evident when I mention that the period covered embraces the discovery of the aniline dyes and that' of artificial rubber, as well as the invention of the first electric telephone and of wireless telegraphy. As my recollections unfortunately go back over so long a period, I feel tempted to drag in here one which may be of interest to some of my audience, though i t has no connection with the matter I propose to deal with. In 1861,when I was a t school a t Friedrichdorf, in Germany, my master, Philip Reis, invented the first telephone. I was present a t its birth, and assisted Reis in making the mechanical parts of some of his instruments and also repeatedly in his experiments, Reis being at one end of the circuit speaking or singing, I listening a t the other, or vice versa. The introduction of synthetic processes may be said to be the keynote of progress of modern industrial chemistry. One of the most fascinating compounds recently introduced into industry is calcium carbide, CaC,. It had lain dormant since its discovery in 1862, b y Wohler, until your countryman Wilson and Moissan made use of the electric furnace t o produce i t ; now its manufacture constitutes a mighty industry, close on 300,000 tons being produced annually. Serving as it does as raw material for the manufacture of calcium cyanamide, it is now the parent of numerous other products of great importance. Among these may be mentioned acetylene, C,H,, so largely used as a n illuminant, and for welding and cutting metals, and I may remind you t h a t the possibility is foreshadowed that this gas will be of use as the starting point in making other chemicals. Calcium cyanamide, apart from its undoubted great value a s a fertilizer, is coming t o the fore as a source of cyanides, now so largely used in extracting gold. What may be of far greater importance, it is convertible by the action of superheated water into ammonia, which in turn may be converted into nitric acid and nitrate of ammonia by oxidation with air under the catalytic influence of platinum. I have recently noticed alarming reports in the press that the impossibility of procuring supplies of nitrate of soda from Chili in time of war may prove a serious handicap to any country in the production of explosives and powder. Considering that the quantity of nitrate of soda used for the purpose is but a fraction of that required in agriculture and that large stocks are held for this purpose almost everywhere, I cannot share the writer's fear. But in view of the fact that ammonia salts are produced by all gas works and of the many attempts to produce it synthetically, the catalytic method of producing nitric
Oct., 1912
acid from ammonia may deserve more attention than it has received up t o now, especially if ammonia, no matter how produced, should become a sufficiently cheap raw material. The most interesting feature in the production of calcium is the use of pure nitrogen. Of the various methods of preparing the gas, that which involves fractional distillation of liquefied air seems to be preferred. We are becoming familiar in industry with the impossible, but who could have expected such a possibility only a few short years ago? Think of the excitement caused in the scientific world when, in 1877, Pictet and Cailletet first succeeded in liquefying oxygen. Pictet's work was then described as the most brilliant achievement in modern science. The barrier between condensable and permanent gases was broken down and the latter term was deprived of its significance; but how much work remained t o be done, what ingenuity had yet to be exercised, t o translate this scientific discovery into a process for the industrial preparation of nitrogen! Success has been achieved by the exertions and ingenuity of several of our greatest authorities in physical and chemical science; nowadays, every gas t h a t is required is readily procurable in the liquefied form (C12, SO,, N,O, CO,, NH,, etc., etc.) in the well known steel cylinders capable of withstanding enormous pressures. If I have laid stress on the conversion of ammonia into nitric acid, the reason is that ammonia is obtainable locally everywhere, either as a by-product of the manufacture of illuminating gas or Mond gas and from coke ovens, and that the installation for converting it into the acid is a relatively cheap one. The numerous attempts to produce ammonia synthetically from its elements nitrogen and hydrogen or from various nitrides, such as those of titanium, boron, magnesium, aluminum, and calcium, can moreover only be of benefit in solving the problem. True, the direct production of nitric acid by means of the electric arc from atmospheric air may appear to be a more rational process, but so long as this industry is tied t o water power, and the difficulties of transporting nitric acid as such in aluminum or iron packages be not overcome, the case seems different in my judgment, particularly in countries where water power is not available and other power a s yet too expensive. I t is to be remembered that t o carry nitric acid safely in iron packages, about I O per cent. of concentrated sulphuric acid has t o be added, and that if one or the other of the ammonia processes under trial should make it possible t o transport it a s nitrate of ammonia, from which it can readily be liberated a t the place of consumption, the difficulty of carriage in the event of war would still remain. My reason for referring a t such length t o the production of these compounds of nitrogen is their importance in agriculture. Food the nations must have, and it seems that to this end they will require the services of the chemist more and more as population grows. The great stimulus, our medalist, Sir William Crookes, has given t o the production of nitric
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acid by calling attention to the near approach of the SO long defied all efforts, has been solved, the use of exhaustion of the deposits of nitrate of soda is well aluminum for chemical apparatus has become pracknown. His suggestion to utilize Cavendish's dis- tical; apart from its utility in handling nitric acid, the covery of the direct interaction of the constituents of metal has proved to be of the greatest value in brewthe atmospheric air and the success, so far achieved, eries, in the food industry, and in varnish works. have often been referred t o ; the work done by BirkeThe application of aluminum as a fuel by Goldland and Eyde, by Schoenherr, Pauling, and others, Schmidt has further led to the production, by his is also well known, but it gives me particular pleasure Alumino-Thermite process, of many metals in a relat o point out t h a t here again America was the first tively pure form otherwise only producible by the t o attempt the realization of this great problem. agency of the electric current. Chromium, manThe realization of the other great problem, i. e., the ganese, and molybdenum prepared by this method, production of ammonia front its elements, appears like- besides various alloys of nickel, iron and copper with wise on the eve of accomplishment, and hope it will these metals or with titanium and vanadium have not be long before we shall have details of the manner found a use mainly in the iron industry. The igneous in which i t has been solved in practice, and how the process of welding rails and repairing castings b y great technical difficulties have been overcome. It means of the Thermite process is of course known to will likewise be interesting to learn something about all, as well as the use of tungsten and tantalum as filathe relative efficiency of the various uranium and iron ments in electric incandescent lamps. The fact t h a t catalytics used, etc. If the published particulars as tantalum filaments, of vastly greater strength than to temperature (about 650') and pressure (about 150 those formerly produced by compression of the metal atmospheres) be correct, the task to be solved was in powder form, can now be obtained by drawing one of no mean order. Meanwhile, we can only offer the metal through diamond dies will doubtless give our best wishes to the ever enterprising Badische an increased stimulus to the use of the element. The Anilin- und Soda Fabrik. mention of tantalum may call t o your mind the fact Two of the other processes mentioned before namely, that the expression rare is fallen into disuse, as the t h a t of the production of ammonia from calcium earths once known as rare are in every-day use, and, nitride and from aluininum nitride, are likewise most owing to the scientific acumen displayed by Auer von interesting, the former for chemical reasons, i. e., the Welsbach, the gas industry is now well able to hold conversion of metallic calcium first into calcium ni- its own against the electrical. But electricity is in tride, Ca,N,, then by the action of hydrogen on this evidence everywhere in our industry. I t threatens to compound into calcium hydride and ammonia, the displace the furnace in the alkali works, it provides calcium hydride being subsequently reconverted by us with chlorine and the time may not be distant means of nitrogen into calcium nitride and ammoniawhen muriatic acid is made electrically. We are inso t h a t a relatively small quantity of calcium is theo- debted to the electric furnace for the sodium industry retically sufficient to produce a n infinite quantity of (with its application t o the cyanide, sodium amide ammonia. Numerous processes have been devised and other manufactures) and to the production of for producing hydrogen; one of the latest is Pictet's, ferrosilicon, carborundum and graphite, for which, in who splits up hydrocarbons either directly into hydro- the form of electrodes and lubricants, America, thanks gen and carbon or by means of steam, a t the melting t o Mr. Acheson, remains as yet unsurpassed. The point of iron, into hydrogen and carbon monoxide, manufacture of nickel by the remarkable Mond carthus materially increasing the yield. bonyl process should not be forgotten. This metal Inasmuch as aluminurn nitride yields on hydroly- would appear to have some future in the elimination sis, together with ammonia, a particularly pure form of carbon bisulphide from coal gas and possibly as a of aluminum hydrate, starting from a n impure raw catalytic in other industries. We do not, however, material, it may become of great importance to the always want to get rid of sulphur. A most original aluminum industry. I well remember aluminum and idea, successfully carried into practice by Frasch, in more often magnesium being made by Bunsen by the Louisiana, is no doubt that of liquefying sulphur in electric arc on a diminutive scale as a lecture experi- the bowels of the earth and then pumping i t up. ment. We students used to cough violently when the After thus rambling through the highways and bywhite fumes which were given off began t o fill the ways of inorganic chemistry, we now arrive at a differlecture room, until Runsen, smiling pleasantly, men- ent class of industries. There is no need to go into tioned t h a t the white fumes were due t o the ammo- any detail, but suffice it to say that their influence has nium chloride he had added to keep the surface of been of momentous importance industrially, and in the metal bright and t h a t ammonium chloride was a n turn has acted and reacted greatly on science. Merely excellent remedy for a cough. The coughing then to mention them is sufficient. I refer, of course, t o stopped. As a curiosity, bars of the metal abqut 3 dyestuffs and synthetic organic products, including in. by I in. by in. were handed round and weighed drugs.* I will not weary you by repeating what has by every one in his hand; the metal was doubtless been related so often and so fully. I t is, however, produced by St. Claire Deville's sodium process. 1 Among synthetic drugs there figures now the famous indicator The annual output of aluminum in 1909 was over phenolphthalein Being colorless and tasteless itself while turning pink on the addition of soda, it has been added by Government t o earmark cer24,000 tons, produced electrically.' Now that the tain kinds of hock. The quite unexpected result is that the indicator is problem of autogenous welding of the metal, which now sold as a splendid aperient under the name of "Purgene."
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noteworthy that from the outset, the establishment of new industries, based on the discovery of aniline dyes, and of methods of producing alizarin and indigo artificially, has in turn given rise to many others, as the organic and inorganic chemicals they required, which were little. if a t all known to commerce a t the time, had to be produced on a large scale. Benzol, nitrobenzol, aniline, to mention only a few, were among the newcomers, later on came anthracene.* The coal tar industry is now the largest consumer of inorganic products and was the cause of the invention of the catalytic process of manufacturing sulphuric anhydride. May I be allowed to relate how I came to be connected with this industry? I was a pupil of Professor Strecker a t Tubingen in the later sixties. When subsequently, in 187-, I again met him and his brother-who was a chemist a t Hoechst-and Dr. Bruning, one of his pupils, he spoke of the importance of fuming sulphuric acid in the alizarin industry. The process of sulphonating anthraquinone had been introduced or was about to replace Perkin’s dichloranthracene process, the use of ordinary concentrated oil of vitriol having proved to be very destructive to the anthraquinone a t the elevated temperature that had to be employed. To my question how this fuming acid could best be made, he replied, “ t h a t is a problem for you to solve.” A few experiments convinced me that, given pure gases, the catalytic action of platinum was the rational solution of the problem; I had to wait, however, for an opportunity of carrying my idea into practice. This came when, in April, 1875, a telegram reached me from my then principal, Mr. W. S. Squire, asking me t o read up that night about Nordhausen acid as it was required by an alizarin works. I showed Squire how simple a matter it was t o bring about the combination of sulphur dioxide and oxygen by means of platinum and other catalytics, but i t was not until a t his request I had carried out a number of experiments with bisulphates, etc., which were not very successful, that he asked me “ t o try my dodge;” henceforward we worked conjointly on the production of the anhydride by catalytic action. Though the process was patented in Squire’s name, Sept., 1875,as others were afterwards or in the name of Neal (a clerk in a Patent Agent’s office), they are the joint work of Squire and myself. Soon after, in the 2nd October Heft of Dingler’s Polyteclznisches Journal, Winkler published a n account of his process which was practically identical with ours. Both of us erred a t that time in believing that stoichiometrical proportions of the gases were the best to use, 1 I t is interesting to note that in the early days of aniline dyes, certain chemicals were smuggled in the works under a wrong name to hide their identity. I was at the time in the employ of Dr. Eugen Lucius, later a member of the firm Meister. Lucius und Co.,hence this recollection. Great difficulties were experienced in recovering arsenic or disposing of the residues. A story is told with reference to these diEculties, amusing perhaps to all except those concerned in it. All troubles seemed to be over when some stranger appeared who undertook to dispose of these residues and was richly paid for his services. Ostensibly he had interested some capitalist in a “perfect process” for the recovery of the arsenic and had been advanced considerable sums for the alleged purchase of the residues which were warehoused as a security. As may be imagined, the chevalier d’industrie presently disappeared and the illegal storage and the strict regulations as t o the disposal of arsenical material entailed a further considerable expenditure on the enterprising capitalist.
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1912
and the various similarities gave rise to unpleasant comment. I n letters, however, which I possess, Winkler freely acknowledges the independence of our work and only regrets that he had deprived himself of the benefit of the invention of his publication, but he was anxious to work with us. I cannot leave this chapter without paying my tribute to the work done by others in developing the catalytic process, and foremost, to the late Dr. Knietsch and his co-workers in the Badische Anilin- und Soda Fabrik. At the same time, I will let you into one or two secrets. The one is that so far I have not been successful in ,working with the spent oxide of gas works. It has the advantage of relative freedom from arsenic, but the drawback of producing a n acid which is not so bright and colorless as that made from pyrites. The color is due to the organic matter in the raw material and to the formation of nitric oxide from its nitrogenous constituents. Nitric oxide can be traced in the burner gases and it is not eliminated in the washing process to which the gases are submitted. Another point is that there is a loss of platinum amounting t o about I grain per ton of monohydrated acid produced; the loss must be of a mechanical nature and can be detected in the drips, although actinium is not discoverable in the gases a t this enormous dilution. I believe I can find confirmation of the assumption that the platinum is carried forward owing to the rapidity of the current because in none of the processes I have worked a t a relatively low velocity have I found any loss of platinum, except such as is unavoidable in extracting the asbestos. Fuming sulphuric acid has found its chief use in the coal tar color industry, in refining certain petroleum oils-mainly the Russian oils-and vaseline, and in the explosive industry. As nitrocotton forms the basis of the celluloid industry, which has been so greatly developed of late, I must mention it and the rivals which it has found in acetyl and cuprammonium cellulose and last, but not least, in the viscose discovered by Cross and Bevan. These materials are used in large quantities for the production of artificial silk, photographic films and artificial hair; nor must I omit to mention the important wood pulp industries depending on chemical processes. Sufficient examples have been given to illustrate my case: to show that science and industry are working hand in hand, and the importance of the result which such cooperation has produced. I n fact. no branch of industry has been left untouched by the ceaseless and irresistible advance of chemical science and technology. And now when we look back on this long list of chemical industries which I have brought before you and their great variety, we have to ask ourselves: Can a chemist be so trained that on entering into any kind of works he will a t once be of use and efficient, apart from the expectation that, as a matter of fact, he is supposed to be a proficient analyst? My answer is in the affirmative, provided that the employer himself knows something about the industry in which
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he is engaged; in that case, he will be patient and not nothing ; books, our scientific and technical societies,* expect too much from a beginner. must assist us. My illustrations must serve to show that if the stuHad time permitted, much might have been said dent is but to know the chemical and physical prin- of industries which are almost specifically American ciples which underlie so wide a range of activity as and of developments that are now taking place in any one of the industries I have pictured provides, connection with the manufacture of food supplies. his time will be more than occupied; to expect him t o My difficulty has been merely to indicate the vast be conversant also with the technical and economical number of directions in which the chemist is now renaspect of industrial problems and to be able to apply dering service t o Society. Each one of my hearers his knowledge forthwith is going too far. Technical will be able to enlarge upon one or the other of t h e training can be of real value only after a sound founda- topics to which I have referred. I can ask you now tion in the principles and practice of pure science has only to reflect how much lies behind my story. The been acquired. Again do I ask: Can such technical progress witnessed in my time is inconceivable. I t is knowledge be acquired by the student before entering impossible for one of my position to do justice t o into practice as well as the scientific knowledge that such a theme, but of its infinite importance to our will be of use to him and his employers in all or the civilization there can be no question. majority of the industries I have enumerated? It is evident it cannot; and if it cannot be done, is i t worth the student’s while to sacrifice much time at the most im- o XIDATION OF ATMOSPHERIC NITROGEN AND DEVELOPMENT O F RESULTING INDUSTRIES I N NORWAY.2 portant and critical part in his life, as far as learning B y SAMUEL EYDE. is concerned, in acquiring technical knowledge which We all know that the atmosphere surrounding us is may be of no assistance to him in after life?I composed of nitrogen and oxygen; to create by the Too early concentration on special subjects must union of these two elements new chemical combinahave a bad effect on the development of the power and tions that can be utilized in the world’s household is habit of thinking independently and on the develop- the task of the new industry. ,merit of the faculty of imagination in the student. If (The work of Priestley and Cavendish, Crookes and he can find time, apart from his bread and butter Rayleigh and Ramsay, and Lovejoy and Bradley along education, it is much better for him t o turn his mind this line was mentioned briefly but with appreciation.) t o subjects of general culture, such a s history, art and The difference between previous methods and t h a t literature. Experience teaches me t h a t technique of Birkeland-Eyde is that the latter have applied large is very readily acquired in practice by one who has quantities of electric energy in the electric arc, and been scientifically trained. The most important task have first found out the best method of doing this, of the employer in industry, as in every other walk while it was previously believed that it was small in life, is to find the right m a n ; and the right man quantities of energy t h a t gave relatively the best with scientific knowledge, who has imagination and results. I t is on that assumption that the apparatus power of observation and can select and command employed b y them was constructed. competent subordinates, is immeasurably more useI n the Birkeland-Eyde method, the electric flames ful than the otherwise right man without scientific used in the electric furnaces start between the points knowledge. Before all things, it is necessary t o find of the electrodes which are close t o each other. By the right man ; experience and inventive faculty must do the rest. I t is not that we do not possess sufficient this a n easily movable and flexible current is estabknowledge when we leave our college as students; lished, which, with the arrangements made, will be what we lack is experience and the power of applying found in a highly magnetic field. The electric arc our knowledge. Our great chemical industries have that has been formed moves on account of this magbeen originated and developed by scientifically trained netic field with great velocity perpendicularly to the men; to name only a few, men such as Perkin, Caro, lines of force, and the electric arc’s foot draws back Brunck, Solvay and Mond, Young, the Siemens’s, These societies, the intercourse with professional friends engaged in Duisburg, have never found any difficulty in securing the same pursuit as ourselves or in kindred industries, are invaluable to our education and so are their papers and periodicals. Unfortunately, the cooperation of engineers or electricians competent most of us have t o keep not one but quite a number of scientific periodicals to construct any kind of plant they have required to and here we are faced with the fact t h a t they all contain abstracts and t h a t the same matter is abstracted in most of them, yet we cannot find this out carry out their problems. till we have waded through them. Professor Noyes made an attempt t o I n fine, Carlyle has well said: “ H e who has learned prevent this overlapping about ten years ago and the International Assohow to learn can learn anything;” the best system ciation of Chemical Societies, which held its first meeting in Paris in 1910 and met again in Berlin this year, will consider this problem among others of education is the system which teaches each man in London in 1913. I n the case of purely scientific chemistry, thereshould not be much difficulty in succeeding; as regards applied chemistry, objechow to educate himself. have been raised, which our Council is now considering. Were i t Our education really begins when we leave college tions possible t o rid ourselves of the incubus of overlapping abstracts, i t would and the storm of life forms our character. We have doubtless be a great saving of time to all of us and its realization should not to study, as nothing in this world is given t o us for be lightly set aside. To a father’s request t o lay stress on his son obtaining particular knowledge about his own (the father’s) industry, one of my professors replied: “You do not teach your son gymnastics in order t h a t he shall be efficient when a man is turning somersaults in competition with others.”
2 Abstract of lecture delivered by Dr. Samuel Eyde, of Christiania. Norway, a t a joint meeting of the Sections on Inorganic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Electrochemistri. and Agricultural Chemistry a t the Auditorium of the American Museum of Natural History. Eighth International Congress. New York, September, 1912.
